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Introduction to Australia Wide Seven

1 November 2020 Filed Under: Australia Wide Seven Leave a Comment

Australia Wide Seven is a juried exhibition showcasing the artwork of Ozquilt Network members. The exhibition premieres at the Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT from 30 October to 18 December. Gallery hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm. The following introduction was provided by Dr Sam Bowker.

  • View: Australia Wide Seven online gallery
  • Download: Introduction to Australia Wide Seven by Sam Bowker (PDF)
Australia Wide Seven

Reflecting on their experiences of Australia’s vast and varied landscapes, the artists of the Ozquilt Network have showcased the diversity of practices across contemporary Australian quiltmaking. In this exhibition, their work consists of observations across the living world. These are translated into textiles that share rich and subtle engagements with our native flora and fauna, the changing climate, the urban, the interstellar and the microscopic. As fixed forms and fugitive glimpses, these small squares are windows across a changing world.

Though 2020 has been an extraordinary year, it is not specifically Australia’s landscape that is changing. Quiltmaking is constantly renewing itself as new voices find expression through layers of fabric held together by thread. The three selectors, Alison Gummow (SA), Sharon Peoples (ACT) and Alysn Midgelow-Marsden (New Zealand) selected 37 works from 83 entries. Combined with their own contributions, we see 40 small quilts before us.

In this exhibition, you will find residues and traces, or memories of objects and moments that no longer exist. You will find striking juxtapositions of brilliant colour and form, the familiar and the strange. Look for those quilters who have created forms you have not seen before, for those who have honed in as far as the eye can focus, and who have borrowed old words to tell new stories. Quilts are complex surfaces, shaped by the interplay of intriguing materials. More than images, they are sculptural – and in this exhibition’s format, they remind me of a disassembled book, each page contributed by a new author. How closely we look at each quilt determines the story we read from all.

For some, this is a story driven by drawing – as punctuated lines that hold layers together, or visual structures blending the abstract and figurative. For others, it is the image or the substance of the quilt itself, as one thing becomes another. Quilting is a slow and tactile process, it is an exploration of combinations. Ask yourself, what does it tell you about the artist? Does it generate the palpable tingle of wanting to make something yourself?

Quilting generates a thriving ecosystem of critical and inclusive practice that is simultaneously competitive and empowering. We see this clearly in Australia Wide Seven – a journey across the vibrant landscape of contemporary Australian quiltmaking.

Curated by Ozquilt Network, Australia Wide Seven will travel for two years to galleries around Australia and the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky (USA).

About the Author

Dr Sam Bowker is the Senior Lecturer in Art History & Visual Culture at Charles Sturt University, based in Wagga Wagga. He lectures across contemporary Australian and Islamic art and design, and his research builds upon the history of the Egyptian tentmakers and the art of khayamiya applique. Contemporary and colonial quilting informs his teaching and research, such as his recent publications for The Journal of Modern Craft, The Australian Society for Asian Art (TASAA Review) and Craft + Design Inquiry.

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Wangaratta
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ART QUILT AUSTRALIA 2025

New on Instagram

Ozquilt Network, together with @nationalwoolmuseum Ozquilt Network, together with @nationalwoolmuseum proudly presents Art Quilt Australia 2025, including Expresssions - The Wool Quilt Prize, at @yrrmuseum Lilydale, Victoria from Wednesday 9 July 2025 until Sunday 12 October 2025. Official opening & awards ceremony 4pm Saturday12 July 2025. All welcome!

Congratulations to the AQA2025 finalists:

  Jennifer Bowker @jennybowker1 
  Anna Brown @annabrown1554 
  Bronwyn Cant @cactusbron 
  Alison Charlton @alisoncharlton_textileart 
  Ruth de Vos @ruthdevosart 
  Sue Dennis @sunny_sued 
  Dianne Firth @dianne.firth 
  Margery Goodall 
  Lynne Hargreaves
  Carol Leitch @carol_textileart 
  Alison Muir @textile_expressions 
  Lois Parish Evans @loisparishevans 
  Beth and Trevor Reid
  Norma Slabbert @quiltmakernorma 
  Brenda Gael Smith @brendagaelsmith 
  Greg Somerville @greg_somerville333 
  Linda Steele 
  Alison Withers
  Zara Zannettino
  Barbara Weeks @barbaraweeks1785 

#artquiltaustralia #artquiltaustralia2025 #ozquiltnetwork #ozqnart #expressionswoolquiltprize
Report from the @quiltnational opening by OZQN mem Report from the @quiltnational opening by OZQN member @tania_tanti_artist who received a juror’s award for her work “Will You Still Love Me When I am Blue”.

“Can’t believe we are @dairybarnarts a dream come true. Here are the Australians at Quilt National 2025 

Linda with her quilt Communication Breakdown she is having a giggle about how Australian she sounds after hearing so many Americans talk. 
@ruthdevosart quilt with a red dot on it. Congratulations Ruth “Wing of Freedom” 
Fiona Gavens “Shadows In The Log Cabin” who knew shoelaces could be so fabulous! 
So good to see these Aussies hanging in such a beautiful exhibition and space.”
CALL FOR ENTRIES: ART QUILT AUSTRALIA 2025 Closing CALL FOR ENTRIES: ART QUILT AUSTRALIA 2025
Closing 15 April 2025 - 2 weeks to go!

Calling all textile artists resident in Australia and Ozquilt Network members worldwide. Enter you work into Art Quilt Australia 2025 including Expressions: The Wool Quilt Prize, an acquisitive award of @nationalwoolmuseum 

$9000 in prizes. Entry form closes at 5pm (Perth time) on 15 April. See the OZQN website for conditions of entry.
#artquiltaustralia2025 #artquiltaustralia #expressionswoolquiltprize #aqa2025
Enter your textile artwork in Art Quilt Australia Enter your textile artwork in Art Quilt Australia 2025 (including Expressions the Wool Quilt Prize sponsored by @nationalwoolmuseum ). $9000 in prizes - open to artists resident in Australia and New Zealand and OZQN members worldwide.

Entries close 15 April 2025. Entry form on the Ozquilt Network website. Link in profile.

Art Quilt Australia 2025 will be on exhibition at the @yrrmuseum Yarra Ranges Regional Museum Lilydale, Victoria from Wednesday 9 July 2025 until Sunday 12 October 2025.

Here is a selection of prize winners from the last 10 years:

2023 Award of Excellence: Linda Steele @lindabsteele Moroccan Magic
2023 Expressions Wool Quilt Prize: Alison Withers DIY Deluge Design No.5

2021 Award of Excellence And then there were three by Cathy Jack Coupland @cathyjackcoupland 
2021 Expressions Wool Quilt Prize Ghost Blanket IV by Fiona Gavens @figavens 

2019 Award of Excellence Whitewash Neroli Henderson @neroli_henderson 
2019 Expressions Wool Quilt Prize: By Wagga Design Barbara Mellor

2017 Award of Excellence Chinese Whispers Judy Hooworth @judyhooworth1 
2017 Expressions Wool Quilt Prize Klimt Print #2 Suzanne Reid

2015 Award of Excellence Alvena Hall, Arboreus: Ediacara Suite 2015
2015 Expressions Wool Quilt Prize Lisa Davis, The Art of Record Keeping

#ozquiltnetwork #ozqnart #artquiltaustralia #artquiltaustralia2025 #expressionswoolquiltprize #nationalwoolmuseum #nationalwoolmuseumgeelong

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